Billy Graham’s son Franklin: Gay lifestyle is ‘a sin,’ and ‘I want to warn people’
In a Meet the Press interview Sunday, Franklin Graham, the son of famed preacher Billy Graham, refused to back down from his Biblical stance against homosexuality. “It’s sin,” he said, and added that he wanted to warn people about it because they will have to stand before God who will judge.
The younger Graham was speaking in the NBC interview about his father’s legacy, as the elder Graham, 95, is ‘very weak’ and eating little. He described how he helped to arrange a final sermon for his father that aired in November. He felt it was God’s will that he help his father “finish well.”
In the context of about Pope Francis’ “who am I to judge” comment, Franklin Graham was asked if he would shift his position on “gays.”
“God would have to shift, and God doesn't,” Graham replied. “God's word is the same yesterday and today and a million years from now, that it's sin.”
“To wink at sin, and to tell somebody that it's okay, I know the consequences of what will happen one day when they have to stand before God,” Graham continued. “I want to warn people.”
But, he added, “I think the Pope is right when he says he is not the judge. He is not the judge. God is the judge.”
Graham’s stance is the same as that of the Catholic Church. A Vatican document on the pastoral care of homosexual persons notes that, “There can be no doubt of the moral judgement made there against homosexual relations.” The document, written under John-Paul II and signed by Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict), notes that the Bible “in the course of describing the conditions necessary for belonging to the Chosen People, the author excludes from the People of God those who behave in a homosexual fashion.”
That 1986 Vatican document also encourages speaking out on the immorality of homosexual activity as the younger Graham has done. “No authentic pastoral programme will include organizations in which homosexual persons associate with each other without clearly stating that homosexual activity is immoral,” it says.
The document stresses, “we wish to make it clear that departure from the Church's teaching, or silence about it, in an effort to provide pastoral care is neither caring nor pastoral.” It adds: “Only what is true can ultimately be pastoral. The neglect of the Church's position prevents homosexual men and women from receiving the care they need and deserve.”
For Graham, it’s also a matter of truth. “I've never really been one to try to be politically correct,” he said. “I just feel truth is truth, and sometimes I probably offend some people.”
The younger Graham was speaking in the NBC interview about his father’s legacy, as the elder Graham, 95, is ‘very weak’ and eating little. He described how he helped to arrange a final sermon for his father that aired in November. He felt it was God’s will that he help his father “finish well.”
In the context of about Pope Francis’ “who am I to judge” comment, Franklin Graham was asked if he would shift his position on “gays.”
“God would have to shift, and God doesn't,” Graham replied. “God's word is the same yesterday and today and a million years from now, that it's sin.”
“To wink at sin, and to tell somebody that it's okay, I know the consequences of what will happen one day when they have to stand before God,” Graham continued. “I want to warn people.”
But, he added, “I think the Pope is right when he says he is not the judge. He is not the judge. God is the judge.”
Graham’s stance is the same as that of the Catholic Church. A Vatican document on the pastoral care of homosexual persons notes that, “There can be no doubt of the moral judgement made there against homosexual relations.” The document, written under John-Paul II and signed by Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict), notes that the Bible “in the course of describing the conditions necessary for belonging to the Chosen People, the author excludes from the People of God those who behave in a homosexual fashion.”
That 1986 Vatican document also encourages speaking out on the immorality of homosexual activity as the younger Graham has done. “No authentic pastoral programme will include organizations in which homosexual persons associate with each other without clearly stating that homosexual activity is immoral,” it says.
The document stresses, “we wish to make it clear that departure from the Church's teaching, or silence about it, in an effort to provide pastoral care is neither caring nor pastoral.” It adds: “Only what is true can ultimately be pastoral. The neglect of the Church's position prevents homosexual men and women from receiving the care they need and deserve.”
For Graham, it’s also a matter of truth. “I've never really been one to try to be politically correct,” he said. “I just feel truth is truth, and sometimes I probably offend some people.”
